


Quoth the Raven

by thatdamnuchiha



Series: In the Company of Elves [21]
Category: Naruto, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: (written by someone who knows next to nothing about said survival), BAMF Haruno Sakura, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Elf Culture & Customs, Family Fluff, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hinata is also Adorable, In which we try to add some diversity here, Language Barrier, Naruto is the Adorable One, POV Haruno Sakura, POV Third Person, Paranoia, Red-Haired Uzumaki Naruto, Rivendell | Imladris, Sakura is the one who will stab you in the ankles and bite, Sasuke is the Aloof One, Self-Indulgent, Slice of Life, Survival, Swearing, Third Age, Wilderness Survival, Young Elves, accidental parent acquisition, and I spite them by writing shit like this, in regards to the depiction of elves, in which people say I write too much angst, in which the baby shinobi think the elves are out to get them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29071542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha
Summary: Sakura wakes up in a strange forest, with eight tiny children who are, coincidentally, the exact same size as her.Though their appearances have all changed, there’s something they all have in common – they’re all shinobi, they’re all well acquainted with each other, and they all have pointed ears. Weird and strange things have always happened to Team Seven, and shinobi are all well enough versed in survival in strange and possibly hostile climates so they make do.Then the elves find them.Alternatively, in which Sakura can and will stab people in the ankles, Ino thinks this is rather hilarious and hides her worries with a smile, Naruto still thinks he can be Hokage, Sasuke wonders what in the fresh fuck is going on, Hinata is simply glad Naruto is still there with her, Shino ponders over the insect wildlife, Kiba is really happy Akamaru is there with him, Chouji wants food, and Shikamaru thinks the whole situation is bizarre and troublesome.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Rookie Nine, Erestor (Tolkien) & Nara Shikamaru, Glorfindel (Tolkien) & Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura & Yamanaka Ino, Rookie Nine & Rivendell Elves
Series: In the Company of Elves [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1430875
Comments: 102
Kudos: 419





	1. In Which They Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> AN 1: Firstly, I just want to say I probably shouldn't be putting another work up, but responsibility is overrated, ergo, here's another work which will have sporadic updates (because I posted this to spite people who always say I write Sakura as being so very angsty - in like fics where she dies and gets reincarnated and has trauma and the like which I've apparently done too much. SFBV and WWC seeming to be chief amongst the crossovers at the very least. Though it's hardly my fault that all the works I've decided to post up in a short timeframe have a similarish mindset for each version of Sakura. Muses are fickle things.) There'll be a smidge of angst at most, if there is any in this work.
> 
> AN 2: Secondly, just gonna say, that I'm adding some diversity in regards to skin colouring amongst elves because canonically they're all white according to various sources I've read. But I'm just going to say this now: Lord of the Rings was published in 1954, and society was completely different at this point with different focuses at this point in time. Racial diversity in literature unfortunately wasn't one of these focuses. Ergo, I don't blame Tolkien as a person for this oversight, I guess you could say - rather I blame the society at the time (a society which has thankfully since evolved) and since we have fanfictions nowadays where we can either stick to canonical stuff or add in the diversity we want, I don't tend to get hung up on these sort of matters. One can't change the past no matter how much we cry and slander things (but we can change the future). Also I'm not one for posting labels on people, particularly once they're dead and can't defend or explain things why they did something a certain way. So, preferably no slandering of Tolkien because of this here, please, because hate in comments always kills the writing vibes.
> 
> AN 3: Thirdly, I am trying to subvert some stereotypes here. Such as the Vanyar being the golden, good, beloved children who are so regal and probably prideful with their shiny golden locks. (I give you Feral Stab-Happy Vanya Sakura in that case, meaning we've got a golden-haired Sakura here too because pink hair is unfortunately not a natural colouring and I want the elves to actually be able to guesstimate at their parentage and pink hair would be like wtf happened here?) Along with the stereotypical elf: white, skinny, and somewhat feminine. That ain't gonna happen in most cases, because diversity here peeps. Don't like? There's a back button, please, politely, use it.
> 
> AN 4: Yes, Naruto has red hair, and one hand, because I want to fuck with the Noldor. (Maedhros, anyone?)
> 
> AN 5: I know fuck all about survival, and I'm swearing in this story too, despite the low G rating I've given because YOLO. Or because I've seen others G fics do as such, and there's not going to be as heavy themes as in my other works. Plus I really want a long G fic that's not a one shot in my repertoire of works and this one is probably as close as I'll get for the time being. Yeah... and moving swiftly on...
> 
> AN 6: The title comes from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. I looked it up and found this information about what it meant. 'Something that happens nevermore will never happen again. ... The most famous use of nevermore is in Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven:" "Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.' Which I felt could be related to things in regards to this little story.
> 
> AN 7: There will probably be an Elf/Outsider POVs in a different story tentatively titled 'Nevermore' which will come up eventually, because let's be honest, we need it from both sides to fully appreciate how elves obsessed with children react to a bunch (a little tribe or clan, however is best to put it) of feral, suspicious shinobi-turned-baby-elves.
> 
> AN 8: There's also no honorifics here, if only to simplify things for my poor brain because I struggle to use them.
> 
> AN 9: Enjoy.

Sunlight was bright behind her eyelids, and Sakura could only groan as the pounding of her head began. Really, she had drunk far too much the night previous, but it had been a celebration. “Five more minutes,” she grumbled, reaching out to pull her blankets back over herself as the cool air brushed against her skin and made her shiver. Her eyes cracked open. _Her blankets weren’t there._

Greenery and forestry met her gaze, and Sakura blinked, rubbed her eyes— _and, nope, she was still in the middle of a forest._

“What the fuck?” she mumbled, sitting up then, blinking as a weight was shifted from her lap. She glanced down then, blinking at the dark-haired child who had been stirred awake by her sudden movement. “Oh,” Sakura murmured, silently praying the kid hadn’t heard her swearing as bright grey eyes opened and glared up at her. “Sorry about that, kid,” she said, scratching the back of her head sheepishly as she glanced around at the forestry she _did not_ recognise in the slightest. _And that was coming from someone who lived in the Leaf – tree-huggers extraordinaire as other countries called them_. She should’ve been able to recognise the vegetation, but these were no Hashirama Trees nor any kind of vegetation native to the Land of Fire. “Do you happen to know where we are, kiddo?”

The child sat up then, long hair falling down to their tiny waist, and Sakura frowned as she realised the baby-ish, barely more than a toddler, child was the same height as her. Maybe a bit taller. There was a sinking feeling in her gut, and she swallowed, her throat feeling terribly dry. “Who,” the kid demanded in a voice that really shouldn’t have sounded as adorable as it did, “are you calling a _child?_ ” One chubby finger pointed out towards her. “You’re the child here, imbecilic—”

Sakura blinked, the words sinking into her like a blade to the gut, and she stood up then, staring down at herself. Her hands were tiny, like the rest of her, fingers and palms baby smooth, with baby fat clinging to her wrists. “Oh,” she mumbled, her voice sounding so very far away as her _big_ brain struggled to comprehend the fact _she looked like a child and she wasn’t wearing a henge._ Her hands went together into the correct hand seal. “Release!” she hissed, adjusting her chakra flow then to break the heinous illusion she had been trapped in.

She came to three abrupt realisations then. One, her chakra control was shot to pieces. Two, the scene before her hadn’t changed in the slightest. And three—

“Release!” the child in front of her hissed, right hand making the relevant half seal. Sakura stared, noting the stump of the child’s left arm, and the dark hair which was the shade of inky blue-black she was so used to.

“…Sasuke?” she enquired hesitantly, almost freezing as bright grey eyes snapped onto her, panic just about visible within their depths. “Is that… you?”

“How do you know my name?” he demanded, and Sakura felt her eyebrows twitch as she pointed to herself furiously. _How in the seven hells hadn’t he figured it out?_

“Sakura,” she declared, pointing at her face then, wondering why he couldn’t tell that the pink-haired child before him who looked somewhat like a baby version of his teammate was actually a just a shrunken version of said teammate who was in the same situation as he himself.

Bright grey eyes squinted suspiciously at her. “The Sakura I know is taller… with pink hair and green eyes…” Sasuke said, eyes narrowed, suspicion lining his, admittedly, very pretty, chubby face.

Sakura froze at that, hand going to her hair, eyes widening as she stared at the _gold_ locks. The same gold locks attached to her head. A shrill scream left her lips, branches creaking as birds fluttered from their nests at the abrupt, high-pitched sound which seemed to echo about the forest they were seemingly stuck within for the apparent future. “My hair is… oh gods, I’m _blonde,_ ” Sakura muttered, staring at the foreign locks now attached to her head. “I’m _blonde_ like Ino. Sasuke, why the fuck am I blonde?”

“You also have golden eyes too, if you really wanted to know,” Sasuke said, both his voice and face deadpan as he pointed a chubby finger at her, grey eyes narrowed and staring at the tiny, pudgy digit in disgust.

“Not helping!” Sakura hissed.

A groan from a little ways away had the both of them freezing, heads snapping around to lock on the source of the sound. A head full of pale silvery blonde hair shifted, _familiar_ blue eyes cracking open and regarding the pair of them curiously. “Children?” Ino mumbled, rubbing at her eyes as she climbed to her feet, stepping towards them all of a sudden – only to pause immediately. _Which likely had something to do with the fact they were all tiny, with far too small gaits and the like. Oh, and the fact they were in the middle of a fucking forest which Sakura herself had no memory of ever stepping into._

“Hn.” Sasuke grunted in greeting, and Sakura resisted the urge to laugh somewhat hysterically as recognition flooded Ino’s face as though a lightbulb had clicked on above her head.

“Sasuke?” Ino asked, seemingly adjusting to the whole waking-up-in-a-child’s-body-in-the-middle-of-fucking-nowhere shenanigans far better than she. Or at least she was better at hiding her reaction to such strangeness. Sakura was slightly jealous, though no less peeved when Ino turned to her with a confused look. _Because she didn’t look like herself anymore_. “And you are?”

“Sakura,” she drawled, pushing aside the question of why she had been turned _blonde_ of all things when Ino and Sasuke looked at her; the former looking as though she were about to burst out laughing, while the latter smirked.

Sakura wondered why she had ever thought that _sexy._ Though, then again, Sasuke was in a child’s body, meaning he no longer looked _sexy,_ should she ever have for some strange reason thought of him in that way… Ino’s lips curled up into a smile on that baby-ish face, reclaiming her attention from the horrid rabbit hole it had almost fallen down. “I knew you’d look good as a fellow blonde, Forehead,” she said, and Sakura scowled at her.

“Though I think your hair might be a bit more silverish now, Pig,” she replied, a smile curving at her lips somewhat at the little grasp of normalcy those childish insults brought. _Because really where the fuck were they?_ “Hmm,” she mumbled, wandering closer to her dear friend and old childhood rival. “I think I might also see a few grey hairs…”

“You take that back!” Ino hissed, prodding at her chest with one stubby finger.

Sakura grinned. “Make—”

“Troublesome,” a small voice grumbled, and Sakura felt her eye twitch right then and there as she folded her tiny arms, turning to face the tiny little child. Shikamaru – because that was undoubtedly who it was – was as dark-haired as ever, though she doubted he would be capable of regaining the spiky ponytail he had once been so well-known for having, given his hair fell to his waist at the very least.

Sakura wondered why they had woken in the bodies of children. _And why they all seemed to have such ridiculously long hair…_ Though Sakura thought the length made them look as fetching as tiny little children could look. “Shikamaru?” she asked, meeting the light grey eyes which cracked open to stare at her for a few moments.

Shikamaru blinked up at her, the eyes seeming so very foreign along with the slightly altered features which made his face barely recognisable. If the baby fat now clinging to his cheeks hadn’t already accomplished such a feat. “Troublesome,” he repeated, rolling back over then, much to Ino’s hiss of indignation.

“Oh no you don’t!” Ino hissed, jabbing at her shrunken, de-aged teammate with her foot – starting with a gentle prodding which only became more and more vigorous. “Get up! We need to work out what the hell is going on here, and you can finally put that lazy big brain of yours to use for once!”

“Ugh,” Shikamaru grunted. “Leave off, woman!”

Sakura sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose then, bending down to poke at a particularly sensitive part of the body sharply – if only to save Shikamaru from the less than tender ministrations of Ino. It worked, if the yelp and subsequent scramble to his feet albeit with lots of complaining meant anything.

Ino slapped her hand against hers in an odd gesture of unity and support, and Sakura could only blink, dumbfounded as Shikamaru and Ino went and roused the others who were sleeping still, blissfully oblivious to their odd new situation.

* * *

For all her quiet musings, Sakura still didn’t have the foggiest idea of who would take the so called ‘Rookie Nine’, shrink them into children, and abandon them in some remote forest in the middle of nowhere – or alter their DNA and make them all into those of a clan who seemed to have the most pointless blood limit which gave them pointed ears. She didn’t know _how_ anyone would do any of that – but it was the only explanation she could come up with in the fifteen minutes it had taken for all bar one of them to be woken.

Narrowing her eyes, her _golden_ eyes if Sasuke and everyone else weren’t fucking with her for shits and giggles, she stared at the red hair splayed out, the strands coloured like blood and rust. Naruto had his mother’s hair now. She had… neither of her parents’ hair colouring. Her father had pink hair, a few shades darker than her own original colouring, and her mother’s hair was an auburn shade – not the horribly princess-like golden locks she had seemingly been stuck with.

Shikamaru hadn’t evidently been able to think of a decent answer either, if the pensive expression on his face as Naruto slept on in the background was anything to go by. The eight of them, plus Akamaru – the dog turned odd wolfhound cub – were sat in a loose circle by that point, grouped by teams. Naruto was sitting behind and a bit to the left of them, still in the bliss which was ignorance to their new situation, though not far away enough if the woods around them suddenly proved more hostile than not.

“This is unprecedented,” Shino said, proving it was himself seconds after. “Why you ask? Because the last memory I recall is going to sleep in my apartment.”

“You have an apartment?” Chouji asked, munching on some safely edible berries he had swiftly found within minutes of his awakening there. Sakura found that suspiciously convenient, though she supposed Chouji had always been so very good with finding food supplies on the scant few missions they had been on together. “I thought you lived with your clan,” he mumbled, oblivious to the dark look which passed over Shino’s face who devolved into murmuring about one thing or another. Nothing out of the ordinary, more so given he had lost his bugs – those which had resided within him for so very long – with their odd resulting situation.

Gone were the familiar clan markings and traits, likely thanks to the fact they had all been seemingly altered so they appeared to be of the yet unknown and unnamed pointed-ear clan. _Whatever their technical names were._ Shino was a child, same as the rest of them, his skin a coppery tan, with rich brown hair to match. His eyes though, unlike the rest of him, were so very pale. A light grey which mirrored Shikamaru’s, and they contrasted with the rest of his colouring. Though Sakura didn’t deny they were a beautiful colouring nonetheless. _Like stars,_ a snide part of her which was so unnerved by the fact her eyes were described as gold. _Not yellow or amber, rather gold._ She had never met anyone with an eye colour which could be called metallic in nature.

Similarly, Chouji had a coppery tan to his skin, though his eyes were a much darker grey and his hair a lighter brown – closer to that of his original colouring, with but a hint of auburn added to the mix for reasons Sakura had yet to fathom.

She, herself, was on the whole other end of the spectrum, what with her golden blonde locks, golden eyes, and her pasty white skin – a colouring Sakura knew would sooner burn than tan with sunlight bearing down upon them. _And there was no sun cream in sight._ Sasuke, Ino, and Shikamaru would be in the same boat, pasty, milky white as they were. _Or not…_ There was a slight olive tinge to Ino and Shikamaru which gave her pause in measuring up who would burn to a crisp under the sun’s light first.

Sasuke was only her opposite in hair colouring, raven black as it was, cooler undertones to him and his alabaster skin, even as his bright grey eyes took in their little gathering so very seriously. _So very typical of an Uchiha._ Though Sakura wasn’t too sure on whether to call him that, given she hadn’t seen his sharingan, and the whole pointy-eared bloodline which had seemingly taken precedent.

Kiba hadn’t changed all that much compared to her, his hair just as brown as it was, though admittedly much longer than before, his skin golden with a natural tan like Naruto, his eyes a dark grey just like Chouji’s – and that was about the biggest change for him, not that he could see his eye colouring as of yet. He was in the same boat as her in that regard.

Though Hinata was the complete opposite. Out of all of them, she had likely changed the most, though the shy girl hadn’t shown much of an outward reaction. Her hair was a silvery colour far too lovely, thick, and fine to call grey. Her eyes were no longer a pale lavender, rather, they had become a very pale grey which was but a few shades off from a pure white. Her skin was no longer pale, rather it was a rich mahogany brown.

Sakura thought she looked oddly ethereal.

Though none of that detracted from the fact they were in the middle of a forest, in the middle of nowhere, going by the fact there had been no trails or paths in the forest in their short scouting session, and the fact they had no idea _how_ such a thing had come to be.

“Sitting here and talking won’t change the situation,” Shikamaru said then, bringing her back to the present then, and Sakura blinked. “Whatever has happened has happened,” he continued. “The more important thing for us is survival…”

“Shelter, food, and water,” Ino listed off, counting them on her fingers.

“Ooo, I’ll help look for food!” Chouji said, smiling then as he lifted his hand eagerly.

Ino smiled then. “You’ve always been good at that,” she mumbled, only to fall quiet once more as Shikamaru their _unofficial_ appointed leader, or so it seemed, spoke once more, telling them what they each already knew from basic survival training. _But they were there as a group, and that meant role delegation was possible._ Sakura thought she would leave that to Shikamaru. He was seeming to be the ‘brains’ of the operation.

“We should build our shelter not too far away from a water source, until we perhaps figure out what sort of environment we’ve landed in, and perhaps how to get back home and back to our original bodies,” Shikamaru said, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. “Though we ought to travel as one group until we find the best location, given we’re in unfamiliar, and possibly hostile territory.” He scratched his head then. “Stop looking at me like that – it’s troublesome,” he grumbled, shying away from the stares which they were all fixing upon him right then and there.

“We are staring,” Shino said. “Why you ask? Because you have just proven yourself to be the best one to lead us through this situation.”

“Um… I think what Shino is trying to say is that we’re glad you’re here,” Hinata mumbled, playing with her tiny hands then as she looked shyly down into her lap.

“Troublesome,” their ‘leader’ grumbled.

Ino smacked him around the head. “They’re being nice!”

“Oww! Troublesome woman,” he muttered, rubbing at his head.

“I cuffed you at best,” Ino declared, folding her arms. “Stop trying to play it up. We need to get moving,” she said, looking up at the sunlight which had managed to find its way through the green leaves above them. “We need to get something set up before night-time.”

Sakura stood at that, glancing over at Sasuke then, inclining her head towards where Naruto lay, still stubbornly sleeping. “We need to wake him up,” she said, and Sasuke only grunted in agreement as they hurried over to prod or otherwise wake him up despite their failure of an attempt earlier. “Maybe if we pinch his nose shut?”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Shikamaru’s voice startled her as she leant over her sleeping teammate. “I have a… feeling that this”—he gestured at Naruto’s prone body—“might have something to do with… ah, what did Naruto call them? Kuru-something?”

“His tailed beast?” Sasuke spoke, looking at the brunette sharply.

“What?” Kiba glanced at them then, Akamaru at his side as they wandered over to where they were all seemingly gathered. “You mean he’s not just sleeping?”

“No one – not even Naruto could sleep through that poking and pinching,” Shikamaru muttered, shuddering then as he looked at Sakura.

Sakura felt vaguely offended.

“I can hit him, if you’d like?” Ino offered, picking up on the feeling as she always did. She had always been eerily good with that. Sakura supposed it was part of the package and parcel which came with being a member of a clan who specialised in the mind arts. “He’s kind of insensitive sometimes…”

“It’s fine,” Sakura mumbled, leaning down to check on Naruto as best she could without the aid of a diagnostic jutsu or other medical technology.

“Is… Is Naruto going to be alright?” Hinata asked after a short period of silence as she checked her teammate over. “If Kurama is gone… then, doesn’t that mean…?” she trailed off, hands shaking then. “He… he…”

“He’s fine,” Sakura answered quickly, cutting the worrying girl off before she could sink further into that mindset. “If it had been an extraction… he would have died in minutes without aid…” she said, frowning as she remembered the feeling of her best friend’s heart in her hand – a race against time which they had thankfully won. “Hopefully he’s just taking a little longer to wake up than the rest of us…”

“We can ask him about his tailed beast once he wakes up,” Shikamaru said. “The priority for now is to find shelter in a well resourced and ideally, an easily defendable place. We can take turns carrying Naruto there. Kiba and Sasuke can be up first for that task.”

“Why me?” Kiba complained.

Shikamaru ignored him then, rounding up the rest of them, and Sakura only sighed softly as Ino came to her side then. Her hand closed around Sakura’s own, squeezing softly then, and Sakura only smiled back in response.

_Just another day in the life of a member of Team Seven – because really, when did they ever get off easy when it came to strange and confusing situations?_


	2. In Which They Set Up Shelter

The vegetation around them was thick, with only trails seemingly used by animals making little breakages in which they were relieved from making their way through the underbrush. They travelled with her and Shikamaru leading them – Sakura occasionally climbing trees as she had done in her childhood many a times before to scout the way ahead of them. Already they had carefully avoided the den of some creature, likely a badger if what Shikamaru had figured out was true. _Which it probably was._ Nara, as it turned out, were well versed in the art of walking through forests. Sakura was betting on it being due to what was well known to be ‘The Nara Deer Forest’ in which only Nara were allowed to set foot in.

“There’s a river to our left,” Sakura relayed, keeping their voices down, unwilling to risk there being any potential hostiles nearby who might hear them and thereby hunt them down. It was bad enough that they were all children in body. Sakura didn’t particularly want to practice her pursuit-escaping skills when they had no clue of the layout of the land. Though that was something which they would be rectifying as soon as they had set up a stable base. Snares and traps for catching live animals would be on the agenda, as well as sending Chouji out to investigate for other foodstuffs. He was their best hope in that regards, what with his education on what was edible and safe to consume, and that which was significantly less so. “I think I can see a bit of an outcrop of rocks too on our two o’clock,” she said, peering at the greyish grouping of rocks.

“Grass would be better than rock if our goal is to make a more permanent residence, which will likely be necessary, given we don’t have many clues as to how we got here nor how to get back,” Shikamaru remarked, chewing on his lip then. “We don’t currently have the strength or the tools to work with stone. Our best bet would be mud… or clay preferably – we can get that from the riverbanks… and then perhaps…” he trailed off, shaking his head then. “Let’s focus on setting shelter up first. Once we’ve found a location we can send Hinata—”

Sakura raised an eyebrow, eyeing the way the now silver-haired girl was fussing over Naruto. “Chouji, Kiba, and Shino would probably be our best bets if it’s food you’re talking about,” she said, ducking under another branch. _And that really said something about its height, given she looked, maybe eight if she was lucky?_ Small children had all looked the same to her by that point, chubby cheeked and tiny as they were. “The rest of us should work on shelter… and likely a fire pit too,” she mumbled, looking around at the relatively flat land. There were no major hills as far as she could see, but then again there was quite a bit of dense vegetation.

They found their ideal spot after roughly an hour of walking, or so Sakura estimated as they both surveyed the little clearing not too far away from the river – surrounded by thick underbrush on a few sides which would serve as a natural barrier to larger creatures (and the smaller ones could be fended off with the fence they were both musing on). The sun was still high in the sky, indicating they were still fine for time.

“It’ll probably be best if we make preparations for sleeping up in the trees,” Sakura mumbled. “We won’t be able to fence in the entire area we’re using in a single day…”

Shikamaru hummed in agreement. “But how do you intend to cut the wood needed for the fences?” he asked, staring at her so very seriously, and Sakura paused.

“Ah,” she said. “I didn’t consider that.”

“Silly Forehead,” Ino added, and Sakura turned to her with a huff.

“You have a better idea?” she asked, raising one gloriously golden eyebrow to stare at her old friend. “Please do share… we’re going to need a fence, especially given we don’t know what’s out there – there could be tigers, wolves, or anything like that, and we’re tiny children whose chakra control has been set back to that of tiny children!”

“Have you considered the possibility that we _are_ now tiny children. Why you ask? Because our body size does indicate as such,” Shino spoke, and Sakura felt her shoulders slump, part of her already wanting to tear those golden locks out in irritation.

“I’m bored!” Kiba whined, Akamaru whining along with him as he threw himself on the ground and rolled over in tandem with his dog. _Wolfhound,_ of so part of her corrected as she stared at the red wolfhound.

“Deal with it,” Sakura grumbled.

“How… How about he goes over to where those rocks are and tries to find sharp ones?” Hinata offered hesitantly. “Then we could maybe use… uh, use them to cut things?” She looked over from where she sat at Naruto’s side, chewing nervously on her lip as they all stared at her then.

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted. “Good idea,” he said gruffly. “Kiba and I can go and look over there,” he declared, and Sakura had the faintest of suspicions he wanted to get away from the faffle going on right there and then. Not that Sakura could blame him – truly, she wanted nothing more than to be back at home, snuggled beneath her blankets. But she had given up the idea of it being a dream when she had tripped over a root on their travels there and banged her forehead, scraping it somewhat. Pain had cemented the feeling of everything being far too real, no matter how she wished it was just some nightmare.

They were still none the wiser as to how they had ended up there, the only clues perhaps being their clothes and one unconscious Naruto. Sakura rather hope he would wake sooner rather than later because he would need to eat and the like, and there were no medical supplies available to help keep him alive should he remain unconscious and unable to swallow food of drink without choking. _But that was something to worry about later, if he didn’t wake up in time for dinner, then she would begin to panic._

Not until then though, or so she mused, staring at the redhead who was still sleeping so very sweetly, blissfully ignorant to the fact they seemed to have been snatched away and made into some odd experiment. Sadly, Orochimaru was nowhere in sight – and it was only sad because otherwise they’d know exactly what was going on. The unknown was oddly scary, doubly so because they seemed to have been de-aged and thrown into an environment none of them recognised. Though they were shinobi – they would survive come hell or highwater. Or so Sakura hoped as she dallied between strategizing with Shikamaru, monitoring Naruto, and watching as morning turned into afternoon.

“We have an axe!” Kiba declared, hefting up the terribly primitive-looking weapon made from rock, wood, and what looked to be vines, and for what had to be the thousandth time, Sakura wished whatever phenomenon had transported them there had given them weapons. Even a single kunai would have been better than nothing. But they had nothing, so they had to made do with DIY weapons which looked like they belonged to an era bygone. Though to be honest, their clothes did as well.

They were the furthest thing from the styles she was used to – it was foreign to her and more so the traditional clan kids who were used to more traditional garb. Now they were dressed in odd tunics of varying colour, dark trousers and matching boots. The boots were better for the climate they seemed to have landed in though, more so, given they couldn’t use chakra to ensure their toes stayed warm and toasty.

Her own tunic was a bright white which Sakura was almost certain would soon become dirty. In some respects she was kind of jealous of Hinata’s sea blue one, but the white one was hers and she felt an odd sense of attachment to it. Probably because the tunic, trousers, underwear, and boots were the only real things she had in her possession right there and then. Her kunai and usual outfit were gone in any case.

“Pass it here then!” Shino called. “Why you ask? Because I need it to chop down suitable branches for the fence we have planned.” Sakura snorted despite herself, busying her hands then with gathering the thick ropey vines they would be using to haul the fence up once the panel of it was complete, along with using it to tie it in place between two relatively even-spaced trees. It was part of the reason they had chosen it as their base, what with a good sixteen trees circling the clearing with good-sized gaps between them.

There was more than enough room for them to construct what she and Shikamaru were tentatively titling _their fortress._ It would be as well defended as one by the time they were finished. _Or so they hoped, because they desperately needed the assurance in some form of safety from the wilderness around them._ Ino and Hinata were busying themselves with preparing their temporary beds in the trees – if only to keep themselves safe from any predators which might linger on the ground while they were constructing their rudimentary defences.

If there were any predators who could climb… _well, Sasuke and Kiba had lugged some heavy rocks back which might work as some form of bludgeoning tool._ Sakura only prayed that they would go unaccosted – at least until their defences were up and ready, and perhaps somewhat tested, given their primitive nature. But Team Seven were rarely that lucky. She rather hoped the luck of both of the other teams would offset their rather terrible luck when it came to unfortunate situations. By that point though she knew better than to put her hope in something so very flimsy.

So she would work harder and faster – not least because Team Seven only had three hands between them at that moment in time. Frowning at the reminder of their still unconscious teammate, Sakura fervently got to sorting the larger vines which would be used for levering the fence section up and then securing it to the trees from the slightly smaller vines which would lash the crisscrossing branches in the way they wanted.

Sasuke toted cut branches down from the place Shino was securing them from, what with Kiba and Chouji off in search of their dinner which would likely be berries or other gathered items of food the boys would manage to secure. With Chouji there, Sakura had little doubt they wouldn’t return empty handed.

“Sakura,” Shikamaru said, coming up behind her then, leaving the space where he had been plotting the layout of their new home with a stick and the patch of dirt set before him there. “How’s the fence coming along?” he asked, peering at the lashed branches which seemed to be holding well.

“Alright, I guess,” she mumbled, securing another branch fully then with the last section of vine then. “We might be able to get two sections done today, three or four if we’re lucky and I work fast… but once Ino and Hinata are done with our… temporary accommodations in the trees, we’ll have more hands on deck,” she said, smiling as she got to work with lashing what would be the last horizontal branch on that section of the fencing. “Though I’ll need more hands for lifting it up… but at least I’ll be able to make the sections of fencing by myself!”

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto would be suited for fine work – not while the both of them had yet to fully acquaint themselves with only having one hand for use. _And being shrunk into the form of a child likely hadn’t helped with their capabilities._ A frown marred her brow then.

“Shino!” she called. “We need some more longer branches – the size we agreed for the vertical ones!”

Shikamaru smiled wryly. “I suppose we ought to be grateful there don’t appear to be any hostiles around nearby, otherwise things would be so much more troublesome,” he said, leaning down to help her then. “I’ve got a rough idea for what I want the camp to look like drawn out, but you can check it over later – just in case I forgot something.”

Sakura nodded.

Together they got to work then, continuing to do so – occasionally making trips to the river to drink admittedly unfiltered and possibly unsafe water. _But it wasn’t like they had much of a choice, given they had yet to built any form of water filtration or a fire with which to boil water._ Sakura only hoped their luck would hold out for the time being. _Or that maybe their new clan’s bloodline involved being more resistant to disease and the like along with giving them wondrously pointy ears._ But that, or so she mused, was rather unlikely.

Evening was falling by the time they all regrouped, Chouji and Kiba returning with berries and other assorted nuts wrapped in leaves to make them easier to carry. Though Sakura hoped they’d be able to get the berry stains out of their pockets, and possibly figure out a way to easier transport goods. _As well getting some snares and traps set up for future use._ They wouldn’t be able to survive alone on nuts and berries.

“Woven baskets,” Sakura mumbled, the answer coming to her then, what with a lack of clothing for cloth bags she was more used to. _They could probably use vines for those, couldn’t they?_

Shikamaru yawned. “I’ll add it to the list,” he said, heading over then to add it to the little dirt list of tasks they needed to complete in order to make the environment around them somewhat more hospitable and bearable.

“Mmmn,” the groan sounded from behind her then, and Sakura felt her head snap around as Naruto groaned then. Hinata was already by his side then, peering down at him as bright grey eyes so similar to Sasuke’s own popped open. “Huh?” Naruto mumbled eloquently even as his stomach growled. “Who’re you?”

“Someone else can explain for once,” Shikamaru muttered, munching on another berry.

Sakura nodded, focusing on her own berries. “I nominate Hinata.”


	3. In Which They Continue To Set Up Shelter

“Can I be leader?” Naruto demanded, staring at them pleadingly. “Like the Hokage of this village we’re setting up?” he asked, eagerness shining in his bright grey eyes.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru grumbled. “We’re not building a village, Naruto – we’re building a shelter here until we know what we need to do to get back home…”

“If we can get back home,” Sasuke muttered darkly.

Sakura elbowed him, and the world kept on spinning on its axis. “Positivity!” she hissed, not bothering to watch as Sasuke rubbed at the spot she’d elbowed. _Her elbows were oddly bony and wonderful weapons with which to elbow those who weren’t behaving._

“Like you’re one to talk,” Sasuke muttered.

“I’m doing a better job than you – and shut up. We need to listen to the plan, idiot,” she said, ignoring the bright grey eyes which were quickly turned upon her in a glare. _It really had nothing on his old one though, what with him being short and chubby-cheeked, and just generally looking like a squishy child on the whole._

“You cannot be leader,” Shino declared, ignoring the wail that Naruto let out. “Why you ask? Because we have already appointed Shikamaru, given he has proven to be the one most likely to get us through this troubled time.”

“Naruto…” Hinata murmured, coming up to pat his shoulder then as he sulked.

“Shikamaru is the leader because he’s the one who has the best mind for building us a good base,” Sakura said then, hoping to bring some sense to her teammate who had only so recently awoken. “He has more experience and training in this area than you – besides, you and Sasuke will both need time to accustom yourselves to only having one arm while also being as small as we are. So not being the leader gives you more time to get your skills back so we can rely on you as one of the protectors of our newly formed shelter…” Sakura smiled pleasantly at her teammate, hoping he would brighten up and drop the idea of being the ‘Hokage’ of their shelter. _Added to the fact they weren’t in the Land of Fire, and it should have been quite obvious there was and would be no Hokage there._

Naruto blinked at her. “Who are you?” he asked, reminding Sakura that it was only really Hinata he had been introduced to. _He had recognised Sasuke by the ‘Hn’._ Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch, a smile curling at her lips then, irritation at being annoyingly blonde when she was supposed to have _pink_ hair. _When she found whoever had stuffed them into those bodies, she was going to punch them. Or stab them. Maybe both, should she have a weapon by that point._ Her grin turned bloodthirsty, and Sakura barely registered the arms looping under her armpits and the arms coming to wrap around her waist before she was struggling and attempting to lunge for her idiot teammate _who had dared to not recognise her just because she had gold locks and golden eyes._

“I am going to punch you into the stratosphere!” she snarled as what sounded suspiciously like Shino snickered in the background, even as she paused in her struggling to crack her knuckles menacingly. “Lemme at him!”

“Hn,” came from behind her, proving it was Sasuke who had her by the arms.

“Oh, Sakura?” Naruto said, smiling then as though _he hadn’t just not recognised her._ Though she supposed the golden locks were to blame, even as she was dragged back to her position in the circle where Sasuke gave her an awkward head pat and Ino rubbed her back and hugged her.

“Hmph.” Sakura folded her arms and looked away from Naruto with a huff.

“Well, I think that’s about everything we need to cover for tonight,” Shikamaru said, the sky above them dark. “So, I think we ought to rest in the bowers Ino and Hinata made in the trees earlier – there are three, each with enough spaces for groups of three, small as we are,” he continued glancing around at them all then. “I’d say we should rest in out teams for tonight and see how things go. We can change sleeping arrangements if it becomes necessary.” Shikamaru yawned, making for an oddly cute picture – though sadly none of them had a camera for such blackmail material.

“Naruto, do you need help getting up into your tree?” Hinata asked, peering at him in concern. “I can give you a hand, if that’s OK,” she murmured, pressing her fingertips together in shyness, even as Sakura made short work of climbing up into their little treehouse. It probably didn’t deserve to be counted as such, but it had been a rushed job, made for temporary accommodations. Sakura thought it was probably rather lucky they had seemingly arrived in that place in summertime. Had it been any of the other seasons, Sakura would have been worried about the possibilities of rainfall or, perhaps, snowfall. As it was, Sakura was free to lie down and assuage her worries, after giving both Sasuke and Naruto a helping hand up – what with them only having one hand and the chakra control of a pre-academy student. She would have felt _bad_ if she hadn’t given them a hand.

“Neh, are you guys excited?” Naruto asked as they piled together, snuggling up for warmth, given the lack of blankets. Sakura was terribly grateful they were sheltered from every and any wind what with how Ino and Hinata had made them makeshift walls. The stars were just about visible, what with their little bower having no roof. What with how they had guessed it wouldn’t rain, thereby cutting down the amount of work the girls had to do. Besides, the stars were necessary if they wanted to figure out a way— _wait,_ Sakura’s eyebrows furrowed, _where was the North Star? And what the fuck were those stars doing…?_

“No, Naruto,” Sakura said, quashing the rising panic of _oh gods what the fuck is wrong with the sky_ down. She could figure things out in the morning – consult with Shikamaru, a fellow being of the brainy duo.

“What is there to be excited by?” Sasuke hissed. “Just be thankful Team Eight volunteered to take the night watches for tonight!”

“Night watches?” Sakura muttered, not remembering any conversation about such things – though they were obviously needed, what with them being in unfamiliar territory _under unfamiliar stars._ Dimly, she hoped Shikamaru would be able to come up with a solution which didn’t involve space-time ninjutsu which they knew _fuck all about._ Well, unless the Second Hokage decided to appear out of nowhere, but that was decidedly unlikely.

“It happened while you were raging at Naruto,” Sasuke explained succinctly, rolling over then. “I am going to sleep. Disturb me and you will know pain.”

“Aww, but I just woke up!” Naruto said.

“Good for you,” Sakura grumbled. “Need me to knock you out again?” she asked, lifting her fist menacingly. _She was tired and she wanted some sleep after the stressful day she’d had after waking up as a child in the middle of fucking nowhere._

“Er, no, Sakura… I’ll go to sleep, I promise.”

“Hn.” Sasuke grunted, which Sakura translated to mean either ‘thank you for shutting him up’ or ‘good job’. She wasn’t sure which one, but then again, her fluency in Uchiha-Speak wasn’t as great as Naruto’s.

“Good,” she muttered at last, snuggling up between her two beloved teammates then, basking in the warmth they radiated as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Morning dawned bright and early, and Sakura soon discovered that nobody had been murdered in their sleep – which was all fine and dandy with her. _That was a lie, she was incredibly glad the forest was seeming to not be immediately dangerous to them. Well, at least until they had all their defences primed and ready for any enemies which crawled out of the woodwork_. Naruto soon joined Sasuke with hauling logs over to make their ramshackle fence after a bit of berry breakfast, Naruto all the while complaining about not being allowed to help her and Hinata. But it was a job which required good hand-eye coordination and two hands in order to make swift progress, so log pulling duty it was for Naruto and Sasuke. Ino and Hinata joined her in making fence panels, bowers having not collapsed overnight or somehow in need of repair, and then they were on fire in terms of progress.

Lunch was made, another discussion was had – along with the shocking reveal that Kurama had vanished and Naruto was still somehow well and alive albeit missing that which he classed as his dear friend, which had Sakura’s eyes narrowing in suspicion. _Because how was that meant to work?_ Jinchuuriki couldn’t survive an extraction, much less not notice one taking place… Meaning it was yet another mystery to unravel, alongside whatever one had dragged them to that land and made them look weird.

But Sakura decided not to focus on that, because a lot of strange and incomprehensible things had happened over the last day and a bit, and she really didn’t want to start trying to make sense of any of it. She had tried and failed to logic her way out of it, and was now _rolling with it_ because that was all she could do right then and there. Even Shikamaru hadn’t been able to logic his way out of it, aside from declaring they were now in what had to be another world or dimension, going by the unfamiliar layout of stars. _And that he had no clue of how to change that fact, meaning they were at square one in terms of working out a way home, and had better start finalising their home before winter rolled around because they were going to be there for a long while…_

The news hadn’t gone down particularly well, but they were shinobi, meaning survival came first and freak-outs came later. They were always so good at suppressing trauma. _Kakashi had been such a shining example of it._ Sakura barely refrained from chuckling madly at that thought. _She didn’t particularly want to be labelled as ‘The First One Who Lost It’._

Chouji and Kiba were out – setting traps in the river, as well as harvesting berries and scouting for game trails. They were the two set to be in charge of gathering food for the time being, what with Chouji’s extensive knowledge and Kiba and Akamaru’s good noses. Snares were still a work in progress, but Shikamaru was happily working on them, reading to tick yet another thing off their list, even as the fence sections started littering the ground, ready to be pulled up and set in place. Shino, Naruto, and Sasuke were collectively known as the ‘woodmen’ by that point.

It took one more day to have all fence sections ready to be pulled up and put in place, and another two days beyond that to hoist them up and secure them in place with vines. It went rather simply, much to Sakura’s own relief. All it had taken was them tying two decently long and sturdy vines around what they had decided to be the top half of their fence, and then they had been ready to be hauled up via two of them venturing into the trees and pulling the vines up and over a sturdy looking branch, and then pulling the vine back to the ground, thereby winching the fence post up. After that had come the securing of the fence panel in place between the two trees on either side of it.

All in all, it went well – what with there being only three incidences where the vine snapped and all their hard work was almost ruined. Though fortunately that didn’t happen, and no delays were made in ensuring they had a flimsy amount of protection between them and the wolves they’d heard howling a few nights before.

Silently, Sakura prayed they didn’t encounter any of them anytime soon.

Sakura smiled, glancing over at Ino – her fellow vine hauler – as they surveyed their hard work—and abruptly realised they had forgotten something.

“Shikamaru!” Sakura called, scrambling back up the tree and over the fence, Ino doing the same. “We need a gate for ease of access!”

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru groaned. “Why didn’t we think of that before?”

Three days were spent figuring out the logistics of a gate, from where was the best location to place such a gate, and what type of gate they should have. They decided on one resembling a cat flap, if only for how less ‘troublesome’ it would be to install and operate.

* * *

Grunting, Sakura slid the sharpened stone over the edge of the long, straight-ish branch which had been presented to her as something to be made into a weapon. A spear to be specific, given there was no other option in terms of DIY weapons which could be made simply enough. Shikamaru was busy trying to figure out pottery, if only so they could make roof tiles for their mud houses which were now under construction.

“We need to think about adding a second layer of fencing,” Sakura said, all the while trying to sharpen the branch of wood. “That way we can have a walkway – and we can set up watch-posts for whoever is on the night shift.”

Shikamaru nodded, sharpening his own branch all the while. “We’ve also got the meeting hut to work on. We’ll need it come winter…”

“The one that will have the fire-pit in it?” Sakura asked, glancing over at Ino as she followed their conversation whilst sharpening her own makeshift spear.

“We’ll need a smoke filter too – if we want to keep our location as secretive as possible,” Shikamaru said, eyes narrowed as he shaved off another bit of wood.

“Just so long as nobody notices the whopping great fence we’ve put up,” Ino said, voice as dry as Suna’s desert. “Shouldn’t you brainiacs be figuring out a way to hide out fortress’ _sturdy_ walls?”

“Ah, fuck,” Sakura muttered. “That is a _good_ point…”

“Of course, Forehead,” Ino said. “I’m always full of those.”

Sakura glared at her witheringly.

Ino stuck her tongue out in response.

“Children,” Shikamaru muttered, earning himself two admittedly rather blunt spear tips pointed at him in warning. “Troublesome women…”


	4. In Which The Fortress Starts To Take Shape

Their makeshift axe broke ten times – and had to have its rock blade replaced five times – before they finished cutting down all the wood they needed.

But Sakura was happy, what with them having two layers of fencing and a makeshift walkway secured on top and between those two fence sections, and a shoddily-made treehouse in which those on the night watch could hide within on the off-chance of an enemy attack. The fact there was a ladder leading down into the safety of their _fortress_ also helped. Not that their fence would stop a projectile from getting through – what with their large openings, but then again, they now had spears. Shoddily-made and not all that sharp spears, if Sakura were being entirely honest, but they were spears nonetheless. Better than nothing, especially with her being a few years off from regaining her super strength – or so the others called it.

Chakra control wasn’t a simple thing, not when they had the bodies of small children with chakra which seemingly hadn’t settled. Not only had she been mentally taxed, but it was slightly harder to resist the urge to bury her head in her hands and scream. Admittedly she felt less likely to do so, what with their shelter being constructed at a good rate, meaning they had a good shot at survival. _But they would need to be making preparations for winter, when berries and other food sources would be in shorter stock._ Fortunately they were in spring-summertime. Sakura decided she would only be particularly worried if it came autumn-time and their preparations weren’t nearly complete.

Still, being tiny in body didn’t help. Not when, like Shino had suggested, they truly were children or so it seemed. _Not that there was anything else they could be at that size and height_. Which meant it was better to stock up more food, given children grew a lot and tended to need to eat more in order to grow. Sakura really didn’t want any of their growths to be stunted due to lack of food. Though she had all but given up the idea of having a balanced diet when fish, meat, and berries were seemingly the only things currently on offer. Though she hoped to maybe find more plants and other herbs they could grow within the safety of their fortress.

Shikamaru had already selected a plot of land meant to be developed for farming, which Kiba and Chouji were helping to prepare when they weren’t out setting snares and checking their traps, and gathering berries and other foodstuffs they could find. Ino, Hinata, and Shino were busy constructing the first of the mud houses. Sasuke and Shikamaru were trying to work out pottery with clay from the riverside and the makeshift kiln they’d made some days previous. They had attempted it a few times before, but the end results had wound up shattered for one reason or another. Then again, Sakura didn’t know much about pottery, so she thought it was best to leave the problem solving regarding that to the ones who did.

Sakura drew another line in the dirt, gulping slightly at the fourteen lines already drawn there – the number of days they had been there for already. She didn’t think they would be going home anytime soon. _If at all._ But Sakura wasn’t going to focus on that dreadful, looming possibility. _Positivity,_ as she had told Sasuke what felt like eons ago. She needed to be positive, and so positive she would be. She would adapt to her new environment, do the heavy lifting of their combat-orientated team given they were down two arms, and she was the only one not missing a limb.

“How’re the mud huts coming along?” she asked, glancing over at Ino as she busied herself weaving vines into a basket. They had to be tightly woven, if only to ensure nothing small, like berries, fell out.

“They’re coming along just fine, Forehead,” Ino said, collapsing beside her in a huff. “Shikamaru designed the plans for them… though the meeting hut will be hard… there’s a reason we’re making multiple small huts for us to sleep in.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow. “I’m not an idiot,” she grumbled.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Ino muttered, staring up at the clouds before she sat up abruptly. “Oh no… I’m becoming far too much like Shikamaru! Cloud watching…” Ino trailed off with a shudder.

“Well, it is a form of entertainment, given we’re all too exhausted to spar with these tiny bodies,” she said. “I can’t wait under we’ve got this camp all set up,” she muttered. “Then maybe we can have some girl time, Pig…”

Ino hummed, smiling brightly then. “I’d like that, Forehead… What do you think we should do?” she asked, tilting her head then.

“We could…” Sakura chewed on her lip, clapping her hands together. “How about we make flower crowns… like we used to when we were this small before…” she said, staring off into the distance then, heart aching somewhat as she thought of Konoha. _As she thought of home_. Her eyes darted around their little fortress. _She might have to get used to the idea of calling that home._ A smile pulled at her lips. “We’ll manage somehow…”

“You must be used to weird and wacky situations by now,” Ino muttered, as if reading her mind. “Team Seven has always had an odd luck…”

“And if this is what’s gotten us into this mess, then I apologise for dragging you and the rest into it,” Sakura said, sighing softly as she cuddled her tiny little knees to her chest. _Only sixteen days ago they had been…_ Sakura shook her head, patting her cheeks then. “Well!” She stood then. “I need to figure out what to do about the storage room Shikamaru wants me to build.”

“I heard it’s meant to be underground – where no animals can get to it…” Ino remarked, a wry grin pulling at her lips. “Good luck with that, and have fun digging!”

Sakura stuck her tongue out in answer.

* * *

“If we’re talking long term, then wouldn’t bushes and ivy work best?” she said, even as they all huddled together in one of the completed mud houses for once of their daily meetings to discuss progress and ideas. There was a wood and clay-mud pillar ensuring the very centre of the little hut wouldn’t fall. More so because they had pottered tiles now atop the roof which would hopefully shield the little houses from the worst of the rainfall which would come over the next month. “We can grow them to cover the fencing… we just need to find some decently-sized ones and move them while we still can…”

Shikamaru hummed, going into his traditional thinking pose, fingers steepled just beneath his chin. “That might work… and even if it doesn’t, it’s an added layer of protection.”

“We could build a moat too!” Naruto declared, eyes shining with enthusiasm.

“That would not be a good idea,” Shino said. “Why you ask? Because a moat is very noticeable and difficult to build, and our goal is to stay relatively unnoticed…”

“Aww,” Kiba moaned. “But we always have to trek down to the river when we wanna bathe or drink – if we had a moat—”

“Not a moat,” Shikamaru said, stroking at his chin then, eyes glinting with what they all knew by that point to be another idea, another chore to be added to their list of things to do. “But Chouji found bamboo yesterday when he was scouting for food,” he continued, showing them a bamboo stem split in two, revealing a half-cylindrical pipe of sorts. “Parts of the river are on higher ground to us, though a bit further away… I think we might be able to bring water to our fortress…”

“We need to install a filter too,” Sakura said then. “A basic one, given what we have on hand, but it will reduce the chances of us catching anything nasty. We’ve already been drinking unfiltered water for too long…”

* * *

Chakra settled in the body earlier in clan children, or so Sakura had found through her once-research back in Konoha. It was one of the main advantages they had over civilian-born children. Their chakra settled in quicker, meaning their stores were larger and they could use chakra sooner. As it was, their chakra was decidedly unsettled in their new bodies, meaning they could only really use a fraction of their power and pretty much all techniques beyond basic bodily enhancement were beyond them. It made them ever so slightly stronger and more resilient than they ought to be.

Sakura only hoped it would be enough to see them through the coming times.

Chouji walked beside her as they checked the snares, bringing back a total of seven dead rabbits, three of which were for that night’s meal, the others destined to be smoked or cured because they needed to prioritise winter stores – whatever it was to preserve them as stock for winter in the underground storeroom which had taken two painstaking weeks to complete, given her first attempt had caved in. It was only lucky she had been close to the tunnel entrance, and that her feet had been exposed enough for Naruto and Sasuke to grab one each and haul her out.

She had studiously avoided the underground storage from that point onwards, hovering only by the entrance to the tunnel which led to their little underground storeroom as Hinata and Shino took over the construction she had epically failed with. If she didn’t enter the tunnel and had Naruto and Sasuke patting her back and awkwardly comforting her when she hyperventilated at the thought of ever having to crawl into their little storeroom…

Well, Shikamaru had thankfully said she wasn’t to enter the underground storeroom, which made Sakura feel both relieved and a bit ashamed. She had thrown herself headfirst into her training with her spear if only to make herself feel like she had a bit more to offer. Team Seven had, after all, been a team whose focus had been on combat compared to the other two who were with them right then and there. Sasuke and Naruto were each down an arm, and had yet to practice sparring. They would need to adjust, meaning that she was the only real combat specialist who was ready to go at the drop of a hat. _Meaning she had to be the best – she was going to protect them all as best she could._

Her arms were laden with bamboo, _strength training or so she told herself_ , ready to begin their waterway construction now that the underground storage which had taken up almost all of their focuses – more so after her cave-in and almost suffocation. Leaves were beginning to turn amber, signalling autumn was well on its way in, and they were more pressed for time than ever, what with their ever-growing list of things they wanted to get done.

They were having to prioritise what needed to be done before the snows came and what could be done after the cold season had passed what with winter fast approaching, and preparing food was key. Sakura hadn’t seen the inside of the storeroom, what with her fear of confined spaces which Shikamaru had assured her was fine and almost guaranteed after the _incident,_ but she had heard their stores were coming along nicely, no matter the not-quite full sensation in her belly she went to sleep with every night.

Sakura only hoped they would be ready by the time the first snows fell.


	5. In Which They Become Bandits

It was a cold autumn evening when they forayed into banditry.

A sad fact of what madness had overtaken their lives, and had forced them into undertaking something which, if discovered or reported, would have likely warranted a C-Rank mission from a hidden village. Well, that was if any hidden villages actually still existed, what with the stars being completely different to the ones Sakura remembered from their old ones. New stars meant new surroundings. New stars meant this was somewhere completely different, and they had yet to encounter any locals. _If there were any locals or anything…_

Sakura wasn’t sure they were ready to encounter the natives, should there be any, what with how poorly constructed their rudimentary defences were, but Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji had proven them wrong. They were ready to encounter locals – and they were very much ready to run rings about them, even with access to as little chakra as they did.

“They’re back!” Kiba’s shout pierced the air as the scouting team they had sent out to get dinner returned then, looking worried and constantly glancing around.

“Raise the gate!” Shino called out, and Sakura could only blink as Hinata moved like a well-oiled machine at his words, automatically going through the motions to lift their flap gate to allow their _heroes_ to return to their fortress. _That was what they were officially calling it now, despite its frankly terrible and shoddy construction_. “Why you ask? Because our leader has returned!”

“I swear he’s getting more dramatic,” Sasuke muttered darkly, looking up from where he had been sharpening her spear as best he could with only one hand. He was oddly good when it came to crafting things – and he found it terribly soothing for one reason or another. Now that they weren’t pressed for time, Sasuke could work at his own speed, all the while getting used to the fact that he only had one hand. Sakura only wished Naruto could be even half as focused, but their no-longer-blonde ball of sunshine was terribly easy to distract with the simplest, unintentional of things. _Well, that, and he was convinced he could eventually usurp Shikamaru from his seat as leader – with no underhanded tricks, of course._

Naruto laughed then, looking so very cheerful despite the madness of the situation they were now stuck in. Ever was he their rock in times of strife.

“Well,” Sakura mumbled, watching as Hinata winched the gate up with their trusty vine contraption they had made when bored one day. “Our situation is quite dramatic,” she grumbled, glaring at her _golden_ locks then, even as they climbed to their feet then, the time they had to muck about over by then. The meeting hut was done, with many a short, fat pillars in the room in all the necessary places in order to keep the ceiling and roof with all its tiling up come the winter snows. And it was there that they all made a beeline towards as Shikamaru hurried in, Hinata closing the gate behind them and locking it, as well as one could lock a wooden gate with tough, flexible vines. Though it was the best they could manage in their situation.

Ino grinned at her, plopping herself down right next to her, holding out something very familiar then. “Here you go!” she declared, and Sakura could only stare at the knife held out to her then. _It was made of metal!_ Sakura barely resisted the urge to lick the blade and taste that metallic ting on her tongue. _She had been getting some really rather weird urges from time to time._ Then again, she hadn’t seen metal for months. It had been all shoddy tools made of rock, which had never made dinner preparations easy when it came to the rabbits they had taken to hunting. _But now they had a knife!_

“We encountered a group of three who I would presume to be the locals in these lands,” Shikamaru explained, even as Chouji hummed happily in the background as he began cooking preparations. Hinata soon sidled up to him – ever the helpful one she was, and always so eager to help – if only to help with smoking or whatever other methods of preservation were used. Sakura hadn’t really been paying too much attention to the cooking side of things. Rather she had been getting used to were fighting, more so with her spear. Shino, oddly enough, tended to be her sparring partner of choice. Either him or Kiba, though she let herself go against Sasuke occasionally, given he was still trying to master the art of suddenly only having one hand. Then again, Sakura doubted she’d be able to adjust at the drop of a hat, should she suddenly lose one of her limbs – so time, whatever help she could manage, and sometimes space it was there.

“They were really, really slow,” Ino said, smiling proudly then, and Sakura felt her eye twitch at the thought of Ino one-upping her. _She was meant to be the fighter, given she was the only one left of Team Seven who was still with both arms, for one, and the one who was closest to regaining their original combat abilities, for two._ Though admittedly she was no where near her old level. She had just gotten that bit stronger, despite their unbalanced diet which hadn’t helped with her muscle growth.

“They had knives on them, as well as a bow, an axe, and a sword, though we only went for the knives,” Shikamaru continued, as if Ino hadn’t interrupted in the first place. “Given how slow and unaware of our presences as they seemed… we decided to take a chance to gain some new weapons… given we quickly realised communication wouldn’t be possible… not that we wished to take that risk, given we appear to be children in body and we aren’t yet sure how the locals will react to us… for all we know they could be maniacs who worship Jashin and sacrifice young children…” Shikamaru’s eyes took on an unholy gleam, and Sakura shuddered at the thought – and at Shikamaru’s apparent obsession with Jashin and blaming him for everything. Then again, Shikamaru could really hold a grudge – point in case being the fate of Hidan and his lingering hatred for all things Jashin.

“Or bastard children,” Sasuke added, and Shikamaru inclined his head, suddenly looking rather pensive as the thought sunk in. Sakura could only ponder on the implications of that, what with her not being from a clan and not being as aware of how clan bastards were treated. Though she could hazard a guess that it wasn’t particularly great. _And,_ Sakura mused, glancing around at them all as the fire crackled in the middle of the fire pit, smoke rising to the ceiling where they had installed a chimney and smoke-filter of sorts to hide their position, _bastard children was indisputably what they would seem like to the pointy-eared clan should they encounter adults of their apparent new clan._ Her stomach twisted nervously at the thought. _All the more reason to put of such a thing for a while yet._

“That’s what we appear to be for all intents and purposes,” Shikamaru said, pinching the chubby bridge of his nose then. “How troublesome…”

“Troublesome?” Hinata echoed, looking worried then. Sakura kept the worry off her face, just about. Hanging around Ino had many perks, including learning an excellent poker face.

“Well… if we go along with the assumption that we are children and have possibly been made alike to one of the clans native to this area… then we would likely be treated as children born out of wedlock,” Shikamaru continued. “Given we don’t know what the clans in… these parts are like, we don’t know if we would be adopted or killed – like some clans did in the Warring Clans Era – or perhaps even ignored, depending on how valuable the bloodline is…”

Sakura’s stomach hit rock bottom at the thought of that happening. “We should make evacuation plans then,” she said, staring at her feet then. “Just so we all know what to do… should someone find our fortress…”

“We can think about them,” Shikamaru remarked. “We were able to successfully lose the people who pursued us before.”

“Well, we had plenty of forest in which to lose them,” Ino said, even as the scent of their dinner reached them then. “We ran into them a while away from here… and I think I saw a road near there too – something we can investigate!”

Sakura blinked then, pondering that information, even as Shikamaru handed out the five small knives he had been carrying. One was left at their meal preparation area. _Sakura would call it a kitchen, but it really wasn’t one._ Another two handed to whoever was due to check the snares and venture outside. He kept one for himself then – and Sakura was inordinately pleased when he gave the last to her. _She had two knives now!_

All bar one of the knives had sheaths – the sheath-less one being donated to be used to cut up whatever prey their snares caught. Smiling, Sakura pulled one out of its rather nice sheath – what looked like vines set in its surface through one method or another. Her fingers ran over the flat of the blade, lips splitting open to reveal her teeth bared in a wide grin. “I missed you,” she whispered to the weapon, relief flooding through her at the realisation she now had some insurance should her spear fail her.

Ino stared at her, blue eyes unblinking and very, _very_ judging. “Sakura,” she said flatly, staring between her and the rather dangerous way she was rubbing her cheek against the flat of the blade. “Sakura, _no_.”

“Mine,” she declared, smiling still, joy suffusing through her at the thought of having more than a DIY weapon with which to stab her enemies with. _They would crawl out of the woodwork sooner or later._ Sakura just knew it. _But she’d be ready. She’d be more help than she was with building the underground storage room._

“Sakura,” Ino hissed. “You’re going to cut yourself!”

“My precious,” she murmured dreamily, patting the blade one last time before she put it away and smiled brightly at Ino. “Thanks!”

Ino blinked at the sudden turn of events, eyes narrowing only moments later, likely at the oddly reverent way she held both sheathed blades to her chest. _She hadn’t seen stabby metal blades for ages, and blades were best for making enemies bleed when one couldn’t pulverise them with one’s fists._ “No… problem?” she spoke, making it sound more like a question. Sakura didn’t know how Ino had given away the blades so very easily. _She liked to think both Ino and Shikamaru were acknowledging her skills as a fighter – as one of the main protectors of their fortress._ Her chest puffed up at the thought, blades in hand, and Sakura sorely wished she had a belt.

_Something to think about, maybe?_

* * *

Winter came, and it came so very quickly.

They woke up one morning to frost covering the ground, the last of the leaves falling from the trees, leaving them barren and eerie in the pre-dawn lighting. Sakura shivered then, sorely wishing she had a coat as she pulled herself out of the tangle of limbs she, Ino, and Hinata had made. She strapped on her vine belt which she had attached her blades to – never feeling comfortable leaving their mud hut without it strapped to her waist. _She was just waiting for their enemies to appear, and then she would stab any who dared to hurt or attack them in their ramshackle fortress._ A smile pulled at her lips, wide and dark at the thought. _She really did want to prove her worth – prove how good of a protector she was, considering Sasuke and Naruto were still trying to get used to combat training what with their balances off._ She pushed open the door to the hut, sniggering slightly at the sound of Ino’s hushed curses as the heat escaped before she could shut the door carefully and quickly behind herself.

“Morning,” Shikamaru greeted, yawning as he made his way into the meeting hut. Sakura’s stomach growled, and she wisely decided to follow in Shikamaru’s footsteps. She hurried into the meeting hut, sighing in content then at the warmth in that place. The clay-straw-wood doors that blocked the cold winds and kept the heat in, provided one was swift enough with coming in and out. There was ventilation of course, given they had a fire going in that room, but it was still wonderfully warm in there. More so than outside, and Sakura was sorely glad for that.

She was glad they had built a rather large wood shed-hut in the end, situated close to one of the fences, though it was one which led to nothing bar bushes. A smaller one would have been more trouble to restock.

Ino appeared soon after she was snacking on the dried berries and nuts. “Morning,” she mumbled, snuggling up to Sakura then, cold from being outside for the barest of moments. “What’s on the agenda for today? It’s winter now, isn’t it?”

“Congratulations,” Shikamaru muttered then. “You have eyes.”

Ino lunged for him, and Sakura barely held her back, hissing all the while, “Not in the meeting hut!”

They stuck together for the rest of that day, huddling together as the cold hit them. The only tasks on the agenda would be any repairs needed – which Sakura prayed wouldn’t be necessary – restocking the firewood supply, perimeter watches – which they all took turns doing in pairs – and occasionally venturing out of their home to check snares _just in case._ Neither her nor Shikamaru were certain of what winter wildlife would be out there.

Though they knew there were wolves, and on the fifth evening of that wintery, cold season, she was so very glad she had insisted on two layers of fencing as she caught sight of the creature padding towards them. “Ah,” Shikamaru breathed next to her as they sat together on watch, warily eyeing the creature as it came closer and closer towards their wooden contraption, and Sakura became acutely aware of how shoddily constructed their fences were. _Something to try and fix – maybe with some bricks which Sasuke and Shikamaru had succeeded in making?_

Sakura tensed, Shikamaru’s hand finding her own as it shook. “Can it smell us?” she breathed. “Our camp? Our food supply?” she asked, free hand curling around the spear in the treehouse with them.

“Probably,” Shikamaru whispered, hand curled around his own spear. “If it decides to test the strength of the fence, then go and wake the rest of the camp up…”

Sakura paled at the thought. “Will do,” she muttered, praying the wolf – the _lone_ wolf, for there were no other wolves nearby, and those hunted in _packs_ – would decide it not worth the trouble. _Decide that they didn’t look like an easy meal._

Though Sakura couldn’t stop the sigh of dismay which escaped her when the opposite happened. _Really, why had she thought the universe would be nice for once?_


	6. In Which They Face Their First Battle

There was yellowish saliva dripping from the jaws which would have meant death if they caught any of them, small as they were. Sakura felt her eyes narrow as she clutched at her spear – though really, she felt as though it were more appropriate to call it a moderately sharpened stick of wood in that instant, given what sort of an opponent they were up against. Unless in those strange lands, wolves behaved differently, then the one before them was an outlier. For one, it was bashing itself up against the fence – or it had been until they had all arrived on scene to defend their home.

“Prepare the backup spears,” Shikamaru hollered from their treehouse, and Hinata and Kiba hurried into the storeroom where they had placed all things which needed to be kept free from the attack of rain and snow.

“We’re going to need to kill it,” Sakura called back, jabbing her spear forwards again between the fence slats, wincing as she was thrown back from the force of the charge. It was difficult to retain balance when some hulking great white wolf was charging and ramming itself against the shoddy fence. It was _insane,_ or so Sakura decided. Either that or wolves behaved weirdly there, _and if that were the case, then they were going to have to adjust their defences because they were going to have to fix their original ones after this fiasco._ Though that was if they survived that very encounter. Sakura gritted her teeth at the thought, her train of thoughts slipping to her knives then.

“This isn’t working!” Ino hissed from beside her. “We won’t be able to kill it from here – not with these spears, they’re too blunt to do any _real_ damage – we need those knives!”

“Why you ask? Because it’s fur seems to be rather thick and seems to clump together,” Shino chimed in, eyes narrowed as he braced the base of his spear against the ground, burying it in the earth somewhat, muttering under his breath as he had to brace the spear still. _The wolf was strong,_ Sakura noted. _It wasn’t starving as of yet, otherwise it would have never been able to muster the strength to attack like that._ Her eyes narrowed. _Though, as with everything, there was a high chance it had ingested some herb or poison which had affected its state._ Sakura was about ready to wager that was what had happened, and all she could do was curse whatever turn of fate had led to this particular wolf finding them.

“We’ll figure something out,” Sasuke grumbled from behind her then.

“You and Naruto should stay back,” Sakura hissed, ignoring the annoyance which flashed across her teammate’s face at her words. He wouldn’t be able to fight properly with only one arm, and Sakura had already decided she was going to be the main protector of the group.

“Hn,” Sasuke hissed, and Sakura thought that acknowledgement and acceptance was good enough, even as he vanished from her side. Part of her was only grateful Hinata had apparently been able to encourage Naruto to keep the fire going in the meeting hut.

“Akamaru, stay back!” Kiba yelped, glancing at his small, red wolfhound pup, having taken over spear duty from Chouji who was flexing his hands and wincing. _Sakura really missed their old bodies at times like those._ Had they been in their old bodies, with their fully controllable chakra and their stashes of weapons the fight right then and there would have been nothing more than a walk in the park. A D-Rank mission at most.

But they were in children’s bodies without proper chakra control, without their nice, sharp kunai and shuriken, and that ramped up the difficulty level rather severely. Sakura bitterly cursed their luck then and there.

“A knife means going close,” Sakura mumbled, gulping at the thought of leaving the modicum of their fortress which their latest _visitor_ seemed intent on taking down. “Anyone going to volunteer, or am I going to do it?” she asked, ignoring the way her hands shook at the thought of going up against the much too large wolf.

A cry rang out from the trees above and outside of their _beloved_ fortress, and Sakura blinked at the sight before her, heart in her throat at the tow heads of black and red hair as they clung to the back of the wolf, having jumped down upon their opponent, a knife in each of their single hands. Her body was moving before she even realised, scaling the nearest tree, given the fence was in a rather breakable state.

“Sakura!” Shikamaru called, but she was already on the other side of the fence, drawing her knives from her ropey vine belt she had them tucked into.

Naruto yelped, tossed off the great white back, little knife still buried deep in its fur. Sakura could taste the tang of blood in the air. Her eyes narrowed, heart racing, adrenaline pulsing through her as she sprinted towards the hulking monstrosity. _She might well die if she mistimed or made one wrong move._ But Team Seven were a team, and her two beloved, if somewhat moronic, boys had charged into battle. _Despite the fact they had yet to complete any sort of battle training after their injuries and losses._ Her teeth clenched together, boots crunching the snow underfoot.

“Naruto, move!” Sakura yelled, having spied where the wolf’s attention was. It’s head jerked around at the sound of her voice, and Sakura cursed under her breath, ignoring the raised eyebrows that earnt her from Sasuke as he continued to cling to the wolf’s back even as it bucked around wildly. Her knife lashed out, slicing into the wolf’s hind leg – something Sakura rather hoped would inhibit its movement, and a move she prayed wouldn’t get her killed.

“Sakura!” Naruto yelled, charging towards the wolf then, and Sakura resisted the urge to scream at him that he didn’t have a weapon and that their fists were pudgy little things which wouldn’t do a damned thing against an opponent of that size.

“Naruto!” Ino’s voice came then, and then there was a shoddy wooden spear in his hands. Not that she had much time to appreciate her best friend’s actions as she leapt out of the way of the attack, the wolf’s teeth snapping shut only a hairsbreadth away. _And she was off balance and wouldn’t be able to leap far enough away again._ Sakura cursed, wondering then as the wolf turned yet again, breath close enough to puff against her face gently as she looked and _knew_ the futility of the scenario she had ended up in.

“Hey! Stink breath!” Naruto yelled, slamming the admittedly rather thick spear down on the wolf’s head, earning a yelp from the beast and it turned towards him instead. “You leave Sakura alone and pick on someone your own size!”

Sasuke snorted, sounding incredibly tired then. “We’re all smaller than it, idiot!” he muttered, stabbing his knife down again, getting closer and closer towards the neck area.

“Which is why we need to coordinate our attacks!” Ino said, blinking as a flash of silver and coppery tan flashed past, spear in hand, and Hinata jabbed it with her shoddy spear right in the eye.

“Just attack!” Shikamaru yelled from behind them, even as the screech of pain sounded. “It’s weakening from blood loss, or haven’t you noticed it’s been getting slower!”

Sakura threw away caution then, sprinting towards the jaws of death rather than away from them, ducking and rolling under that maw which snapped only millimetres behind her. If she had been any slower or the beast any faster then she would’ve been caught. _How lucky that wasn’t the case_. Knife unsheathed, she rammed it up into the furry beast above her, wrenching her blade free seconds later, a muffled curse escaping her as blood gushed down on her neck like a fountain and a soft whimper escaped the wolf. _That was definitely an artery._ She relaxed then, though not for long as she was crushed underneath the furry mass and panic set in almost instantly, hands and feet kicking as she tried _to claw her way up and out._

“Pull her out,” Ino’s voice reached her, just as two arms closed around one of her own each and wrenched her out from underneath the cooling furry mass. Sakura gasped for breath then, staggering away from the cooling corpse of the wolf, planting her hands on her legs and sucking in deep breath after deep breath. _She definitely wasn’t panicking, because that was entirely embarrassing._ Wincing, she moved her arms about, grateful neither of her arms appeared to be dislocated what with having been wrenched out from underneath that now dead wolf.

“Thanks,” she muttered after a short while, even as Shikamaru deigned to make his presence known then and there.

As always, it was straight to business, what with Kiba and Shino making rudimentary repairs to their fortress walls to get them through the night though Sakura rather hoped they wouldn’t be attacked again. “We need to clean this up… Sakura, grab a bucket and get some water – we ought to try and wash the blood away or at least dilute the scent somewhat or spread it around. The rest of us here are going to be hauling this inside…” Shikamaru declared, studying the corpse of the wolf they had killed with a gimlet eye and a calculating gleam which was becoming far too familiar of a sight in those lands, stranded as they were.

Sakura’s eyes narrowed. “I’d advise against trying to use its meat for stock or anything edible-wise,” she said, remembering the high possibility that the wolf had been under the influence of a toxin or other illness. “It seemed pretty insane and didn’t seem to fear us or our fence in the slightest… It’s likely it was under the influence of a toxin or some sort of illness maybe?” she offered then, and Shikamaru only nodded.

“The main thing we want is the fur – its pelt is of surprisingly good quality, and we can treat it easily enough, though it won’t be a professional job – we could make a rug or something for one of the sleeping huts or perhaps for the meeting hut, depending on how it goes…” Shikamaru said, and then they got to work, and Sakura tried to cover up the markings of their fight and the scent of the blood permeating through the air as best as possible.

It was only when another wolf howl pierced the quiet night air that she shuddered and made her way back inside their fortress which felt relatively safe still, her task complete, and her sleeping hut calling to her.

* * *

The snows passed and the often clouded skies began to clear, signalling winter was on its way out and spring was on its way in. The wolf’s hide was only big enough to be split between two sleeping huts, those being what was effectively dubbed as the ‘girl’s’ hut and Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru’s hut. What with them being the main contributors in the fight – though every now and then they had a sleepover or switched around huts – meaning everyone got to experience the joys of the fluff which made for a better insulator than the cold ground.

Bushes were growing to conceal their hideout as spring came down in full force, growing thicker and denser, and there were now plans for a moat to be built once spring was in full swing. After the wolf attack they had decided to go for the obtrusive defence because they valued their safety over their anonymity, given the wolf had found them easily enough. They didn’t want a repeat for when the next winter rolled around, what with how they still had no clue as to _why_ they had ended up there.

Sakura was starting to lose hope by that point, and Shikamaru was much the same as to finding any clues as to the matter of _why_ they were there.

* * *

Spring became summer, and it was back to hunting and gathering and making new preparations for the next winter, along with continuing to build the moat – because it was rather deep and they only had their hands. Admittedly, it was slightly easier with a small application of chakra, but that was the limit of all their chakra manipulation skills annoyingly enough, thanks to their children-sized bodies. Still, work was slow, and Shikamaru was something of a slave driver, or so they were swiftly finding out.

Summer became autumn and the moat was finally complete and filled with water soon enough, and Sakura was oddly glad they hadn’t planted the bushes too close to the fence originally, what with how they had fit that moat between the bushes and the fence. It made it as unobtrusive as a moat could get. They were getting better at the survival aspect of things as time went by, and they were becoming more skilled in creating makeshift spears and other tools. Their bodies became slimmer, leaner and faster, shedding the fat they had once had upon arrival in those lands. Sakura supposed it was only natural for that to happen, what with how they were living. It wasn’t exactly what they were used to.

Autumn became winter, and winter became spring once more, but it was in that spring that they finally saw them: adults of their new clan.


	7. In Which They See Adults

They were traipsing through the forest merrily when they heard it. She, Ino, and Naruto were going through the motions of setting new snares in places they knew game frequented, all of them wearing the rather dashing flower crowns all of them had gotten into the habit of making when spring and summertime rolled about, bringing the flowers out. It had become something of a contest as time moved forwards, and those who went out into the big _scary_ wide world _had_ to wear them for one reason or another. Ino and Shikamaru had decreed it so in some eerie union.

Sakura mainly liked the wreaths because they were pretty, and it was one of the few girly things they could do. Not that it stopped the boys from joining in – _because they had reached the point where they gave zero fucks about gender norms and had all stopped judging what they all did in camp because they had all developed their unique coping methods for their bizarre situation, whether it be by cursing Jashin and blaming everything on said strange deity or by challenging others to spars and biting them to find comfort in some strange way._

“What’s that sound?” Ino asked softly, just as their wonderfully sharp ear caught sound of it.

“It’s coming from the road!” Naruto declared, and she and Ino both slapped a hand over his mouth and shushed him, well aware that the sound would otherwise carry and possibly reveal themselves to whatever lurked out there. _They were in the unknown, and Sakura was far too often reminded of that very fact._

“Stay in the undergrowth,” Sakura muttered, hunkering down and staying deathly still even as the sound grew louder and she soon spotted what was causing it. _Horses._ Well, horses and their _armoured, dangerous_ riders. Her heart pounded in her chest, fear thrumming through them even as they stayed deathly still in the undergrowth which shielded them and allowed them to spy on the group as they passed.

There were twenty to thirty of them, sat astride horses of varying coat colourings, each of them armoured, and carrying at least one weapon of some description. A vast majority seemed to favour swords, but there were a number who carried a bow and arrows. Some even carried both, and Sakura could only stare at the weapons and long for them silently. They only had _knives._ Tiny little knives, and the novelty of metal and sharp stabby weapons had worn off somewhat. Though her disappointment with their current weapons wasn’t as important as watching the procession of the adults of their clan before them. Some wore helmets, long hair cascading down from beneath, oftentimes braided in intricate patterns her tiny eyes couldn’t quite work out. _Ino probably could though,_ or so Sakura mused as she remained in the bushes, stock still – because, _because their ears were pointed._

Dimly, Sakura found herself feeling around her ears and the defined point set upon them. Part of her wondered what she looked like, what with the lack of a proper reflective surface with which to see the changes which had been wrought upon her. She had _gold_ hair and _golden_ eyes. Sakura didn’t know how happy she was with that.

But golden features or not, there were adults of the pointed ear clan before them passing by in some procession or something. It looked more like some sort of riding formation, not that she knew many of those. Shinobi didn’t use horses, mainly because they tended to be faster than them on foot. They weren’t faster than horses anymore, if only because their chakra wasn’t cooperating, what with their undersized bodies which weren’t growing as they rightly should. Something Sakura attributed to their new, rather terrible diets, and she rather hoped they would be able to rectify that in the coming year. Given they presumed they were there in the long term, they couldn’t afford to have their growths stunted too much, lest they want to lose some of their fighting capabilities.

Her head turned, eyes locking with Ino’s – which were also widened in amazement and curiosity at the sight of adults of their clan. It was growing late by then, and the adults seemed to have an odd luminous air around them. Sort of like their skin was glowing somewhat from within, even if they weren’t the pasty white that she was. Evidently that was an adult thing, given none of them were glowing like that. Something Sakura was grateful for, because it would’ve been harder to hide if they already had that attribute.

As it was, they were stealthily hidden in the bushes, none of them really daring to breathe much as the adults of the pointed ear clan went past, completely and utterly oblivious to their presences there in the bushes—

An arrow soared overhead, spearing into the tree just behind their hiding place, and Sakura didn’t move in the slightest. Ino still had a hand over Naruto’s mouth just in case, but Naruto hadn’t thankfully made a sound. _Or run out of the bushes and started attacking their perceived attacker._ That sounded like something Naruto would’ve done, and Sakura thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t done just that.

Unfamiliar sounds met her ears, eyes narrowing as she peered through the bushes at the sudden halt which the company had come to at the loosing of an arrow. Silently, Sakura prayed that they would leave it at that and continue on their way, but her luck wasn’t having it. Adult archers of their clan apparently didn’t like to waste arrows, and the shooter was dismounting to retrieve their arrow while the rest of the company kept their eagle, light-coloured eyes on their bush.

“I think we should run,” Ino declared softly, and Sakura’s eyes narrowed even as another dismounted, hearing Ino’s words then, a loud voice calling out something they couldn’t understand, the tone of their voice brokering no argument, and Sakura nodded, grabbing Naruto by the arm to get him up and ready to move on her signal.

“Run!” she hissed, hightailing out of the back of the bush in a flurry of leaves, cursing at the sharp senses their clan elites seemed to have. _They had to have been elite to discover them hiding in those bushes,_ or so Sakura mused as her annoyingly small legs carried her forwards. Her ears twitched, eyes narrowed as she ducked into another bush and through the other side, hearing pursuit behind them. _Their new clan had spotted them,_ or so she thought to herself darkly, remembering the utterances back at camp about what their new clan might do with the bastard children they all appeared to be.

Her heart thudded in her chest, and she paused in her running momentarily to try and get a grasp on where Ino and Naruto had gone, eyes narrowing as she heard a distinctly familiar yelp. Her feet were already moving, eyes narrowing even further as she caught sight of her idiotic teammate being backed into a corner between two adults of their clan and the dense shrubbery he had evidently tried to escape through – if the cuts on his cheeks from sharp thorns were any indication. Sakura pulled her knife, a snarl rumbling in her throat, golden eyes locking on the lightly armour clad ankles which were in easy reach. _She wouldn’t let them steal Naruto away and do whatever it is they did with bastard children._ The adult with long brown locks turned at the sound of her feet slapping against the ground, but Sakura didn’t pay attention to his face, far too busy stabbing him in the ankle.

“This way!” she hissed, wrenching her blade loose once more, ignoring the way red blood lined its edge, grabbing Naruto by his sole remaining hand, dragging him away, even as the silvery-haired one fretted over their companion even as they moaned in pain from the damage she had delivered to one ankle. A grin made entirely of teeth pulled at her lips, pride surging through her as she realised she had successfully rescued Naruto. _She liked contributing to the team, what with Naruto and Sasuke being down an arm each._ Though they were constantly getting better with their dexterity and what they were capable of with one hand. Sakura liked to think she was still the best warrior their camp had.

Sakura didn’t stop running until they ran into Ino who had similarly lost the pursuit behind her, and from there they frantically worked to ensure they couldn’t be tracked by the adults of their newfound clan. She didn’t think anything good would come of being discovered, and as such it was vital their fortress remained undetected.

“How did they even notice us?” Ino complained, waving her hands about. “If anything we’re better at stealth than we were when we were bigger!” she declared, even as they finished trudging up the shallow stream, stepping back onto the grass, scowling at the feeling of the wet boots they all now had on their feet.

Sakura tilted her head, having been wondering the same thing in the back of her head then. “Maybe they have some sort of sensory perception bloodline?” she offered, frowning still, the memory of that arrow slamming into the tree above them still fresh in her mind.

“It was a warning shot,” Naruto chimed in, a skip to his step despite his almost capture before. Sakura supposed Naruto bounced back from those sorts of things better than she did. _Or, at the very least, he was better at concealing his reactions than her._ “They didn’t know for sure we were there until Ino spoke!”

“Well, they _were_ coming to collect that arrow,” Sakura said, smiling at Ino even as the other girl folded her arms and frown.

“Come on,” Ino said then. “We need to report this to Shikamaru and the others…” she trailed off, expression becoming that much more pensive, the small purple and dark blue flowers in her crown somewhat skewed and out-of-place as she led them back to their fortress and home in those lands. Sakura only prayed that was the last of the adults of their clan that they saw. _They still didn’t know what they did with their bastard children, but given how they hadn’t seen any being escorted or participating in those odd processions…_ Sakura wasn’t holding out much hope.

* * *

His fingers were steepled beneath his small chin, and Sakura could only stare at their undisputed leader as he mulled over the information they had just delivered to him. _The adults knew of the existence of at least three of them._ “Troublesome,” their illustrious leader muttered, even as they all gathered there in their meeting hut. “But it was bound to happen eventually,” he said, sitting back then to glance between the three of them. “Don’t beat yourselves up over it – you made it back here, and you didn’t lead any of them here either…”

“He is correct,” Shino chimed in, light grey eyes meeting each of their tense stares. “Why you ask? Because it is inevitable we would have come across the adults of our new clan at one point or another.”

“We’re just g-glad you all made it back,” Hinata declared, and Sakura only smiled as she noticed the pale grey eyes fixed upon Naruto right then and there. Ino and herself had a bet going on as to when their beloved friend would realise Hinata’s feelings for him. It had begun even before they had wound up in those strange lands under strange stars.

Naruto grinned at that. “Almost got caught, but Sakura rescued me!” he said blasély. “But then she went and stabbed this guy’s ankle and then I was free!”

Sakura felt eyes on her then, and she turned her head away then, cheeks burning red at the acknowledgement she was being given.

Ino stared at her then. “The ankles?” she mumbled. “Really, Sakura?”

Sakura folded her arms and stole a line from her other teammate. “Hn,” she muttered, determinedly avoiding Ino’s stare which felt terribly judgemental. “What? It wasn’t like there was anything else in easy reach!”

Shikamaru frowned at that. “Though that does increase the chances of hostility between us and the adults of our new clan,” he said, chewing on his lip. “But what’s done is done… and Naruto is here with us now, rather than…” Shikamaru trailed off, no doubt imagining the many fates which could await them if they were captured by the adults of their clan.

Sakura only hoped they would, at the very least, let them live.

**Author's Note:**

> SPORADIC UPDATES T_T
> 
> Though that's mainly because I wrote this to spite people who always say I write too much angst or say that every paragraph I write contains Sakura being angsty. Though tbh me being spiteful would probably be more like:
> 
> Others: You write too much angst
> 
> Me (at my laptop): Oh, angst you say? *writes more*
> 
> But meh...


End file.
